


hitting every mark (with me all the way)

by Narci



Series: See the Forest, Not Just the Trees [11]
Category: Mo Dao Zu Shi, 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)
Genre: Angst, Bunnies, Canon Compliant, Cloud Recesses (Módào Zǔshī), Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post canon, SSC, The Cloud Recesses Rabbits (Módào Zǔshī), Two-Shot, cute wen ning, wen ning hides in bushes v v well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:01:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26773339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Narci/pseuds/Narci
Summary: Wen Ning isn’t sure what Young Master Wei is to him. Wen Ning has never been popular, so he doesn’t have much experience with friends. Clearly, Wei-Gongzi is a pro in this field. Wen Ning has never seen someone below the age of forty not fall, at least partially, for the teen’s wild charm.Wen Ning lets Wei Wuxian set the pace as he follows timidly behind the real sun of the cultivation world (the Wens are just flickering candles compared to Wei-Gongzi’s grins and glittering eyes.)Sometimes, Wen Ning still questions what Wei-Gongzi is to him, but then he just sighs softly in confused frustration and gives up.-/-character study of wwx by wn
Relationships: Lán Yuàn | Lán Sīzhuī & Wēn Níng | Wēn Qiónglín, Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn & Wēn Níng | Wēn Qiónglín, Wēn Níng | Wēn Qiónglín & Wēn Qíng
Series: See the Forest, Not Just the Trees [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1915600
Comments: 10
Kudos: 102





	1. hitting every mark

**Author's Note:**

> i just want to preface this one with one sentence, 'this will have a second part!' 
> 
> wn is my lowkey fav, and i'm not about to give him the least screen time in the series.

Wen Ning has always wished for a friend. Someone other than A-Jie that would sit with him and talk or play. But no one wants to be seen with the stuttering branch-family loser, Wen Qionglin. No one wants to associate with him, and he learns that at a very young age.

Wen Ning learns lots of other things around that time as well. 

He learns that looking someone other than his sister in the eyes is the prelude to a fierce beating. He learns what sneers and pushes mean. He learns that trying to talk through the stutters is much harder than not speaking at all.

And he learns that, while friendship is still an entirely foreign concept, he is well-acquainted with loneliness. 

-/-

Wen Ning finds solace in archery and medicine. They both require precision and focus. 

When Wen Ning is holding his breath and lining up his shot, he forgets about how isolated he feels, all he knows then is the arrow and the target. 

Medicine brings a different sort of peace to Wen Ning. Medicine doesn’t make him forget, it makes him remember. It makes him remember how much he still hasn’t seen, how much he doesn’t know, how many people he’s never met. Grinding herbs for A-Jie gives Wen Ning a sense of peaceful anticipation. 

Medicine and archery are Wen Ning’s only source of comfort. Even A-Jie is beginning to distance herself from him. He doesn’t understand what he’s doing wrong. What is he supposed to do? What makes people stay? How does everyone else just  _ know _ what way to act? Why can’t Wen Ning ever hit all the marks just like everyone else? 

Wen Ning simmers in those thoughts as he tries to sleep every night. His A-Jie in the room over, and his bow hidden near the bed. He cries a lot. Mostly out of loneliness, but also out of frustration. If he just knew what to change, then he could make people like him!

-/-

Wei Wuxian is his opposite, Wen Ning thinks while lining up another bullseye. Wei-Gongzi can talk without pause. Wei-Gongzi naturally draws people in. Wei-Gongzi has more friends than Wen Ning can even dream of having.

Wen Ning supposes the cultivator doesn’t understand loneliness like he does. But that’s okay, Wen Ning doesn’t want him to. Wen Ning likes Wei Wuxian, and, for the first time ever, Wen Ning thinks Wei-Gongzi might just like him too.

-/-

If Wen Ning takes his daydreams too far, he begins to picture what his ideal friend would be. In the past, it was a gentle figure who would stay by Wen Ning no matter what, who had soft words and softer hands. 

Now, when he gets caught up in his imagination, all he sees is Wei Wuxian. Arguably still a gentle person (when he’s with Wen Ning, at least), definitely loyal to a fault, but not soft. Wen Ning will never ever associate the word ‘soft’ with Wei-Gongzi. 

The change in Wen Ning’s ideal is quick and absolute—even when tensions raise and Wen Ning barely sees Wei-Gongzi anymore. That doesn’t matter at all to Wen Ning. Not seeing Wei-Gongzi will never change the fact that he was the first person to reach out to Wen Ning. That he was the first person that wanted to be friends with Wen Ning.

Wen Ning will do anything to protect that fragile connection between them. Living safely doesn’t matter if it means living alone.

fin.


	2. with me all the way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wen Ning knows how to be a guard dog, but now that Wei-Gongzi has Lan Wangji, he doesn’t need a guard dog, so what is Wen Ning supposed to be?

Wen Ning is soft, he can admit that because there’s no point in trying to deny it. However, there is exactly one subject he will never bend on: Young Master Wei. Wen Ning will never understand how all those people who once said they cared about Wei-Gongzi abandoned him as easily as they did. Wen Ning would rather die (for good this time) than betray Wei-Gongzi. A-Jie did die for Wei Wuxian, and so did the rest of the Wen remnants. It’s not like Wen Ning expected everyone to give Wei-Gongzi the loyalty he deserved, he just didn’t get the complete lack of trust the whole cultivation world had for Young Master Wei after the Sunshot Campaign. It’s like having extra power automatically made Wei-Gongzi another Wen Ruohan.

After the war, Wen Ning was taken in by the Jin, and he had no idea what was happening around him until his death and subsequent revival by Wei-Gongzi. If he had been there, maybe Wen Ning could’ve talked sense into Young Master Wei. Maybe Wen Ning could’ve convinced him that he still had people that cared for him. Maybe Wen Ning could’ve stopped him from signing his own death warrant. 

Except, if he hadn’t been captured by the Jin, Wei-Gongzi probably wouldn’t have had to turn everyone against him just to save Wen Ning, so the point is probably moot. 

Regardless, Wen Ning will forever be indebted to Wei-Gongzi. Up until Young Master Wei’s death, Wen Ning was by his side, and after Wei Wuxian was revived, Wen Ning was standing with him once again. Wen Ning will always be there when Wei-Gongzi needs him. 

Though, it does look like Young Master Wei won’t be needing him much anymore. Now that he has Lan Wangji, that is. 

Wen Ning is happy for Wei-Gongzi. Really, truly happy. But, maybe he’s also a bit nostalgic.

He isn’t going to miss the way Young Master Wei lived in the Burial Mounds. Wen Ning will never forget how Wei-Gongzi was before he died. How thin he was. How dark his eyes were. How he screamed more nights than he actually slept. Wen Ning will never forget those times, and he will never wish for them back. (except maybe he does sometimes. sometimes, Wen Ning can’t help but miss those days in Yiling with his family around him, A-jie scolding him, and A-Yuan forcing him to play. sometimes, Wen Ning wants what he knows he will never have again, even though he knows he shouldn’t.) But Wen Ning knew how to be useful for that Young Master Wei.

Wen Ning knows how to be a guard dog, but now that Wei-Gongzi has Lan Wangji, he doesn’t need a guard dog, so what is Wen Ning supposed to be? A friend? But how? Wen Ning doesn’t know anything about being normal friends. Family? Maybe, but Wen Ning isn’t sure he knows how to be that either. After all, his whole family’s gone now.

-/-

Over the past few months, Wen Ning has become exceptionally good at camouflage. But skills get rusty if one doesn't use them frequently. 

That’s Wen Ning's excuse for the spying he’s currently doing. After all, Young Master Wei and Second Young Master Lan are two of the best cultivators in their generation. If Wen Ning can hide from them, he can hide from anyone. 

There’s a particularly sharp twig digging into his lower back, but being dead has its own perks, and the stabbing doesn't bother him at all. Wen Ning doesn’t move even slightly as he watches the two cultivators from his place in the brambles thirty feet to their left. He can see a bunny carefully approaching his bush, and he silently wishes it will leave. After all, a bunny would definitely give his position away. The bunny pauses for a moment before wiggling its way into his bush without a care in the world, as if it wants Wen Ning to be caught. 

Luckily, this specific bunny is always rather adventurous, so the two cultivators don’t even notice its disappearance. Wen Ning breathes a sigh of relief as he lifts the bunny to his chest and lets it begin chewing on his hair. 

-/-

  
  


From under the biggest tree in Gusu, a gentle but emotionally powerful song can be heard. A duet of dizi and guqin. 

Wen Ning thinks it’s beautiful but he has bigger problems than listening to WangXian for the three hundredth time this month. The cute little bunny that snuck into his bush has progressed from simply mouthing at his hair to actively gnawing on his fingers. Sure, he can’t feel any pain, but Wen Ning still doesn’t want to be down a finger until Wei-Gongzi has time to fix it. 

  
“Stop!” Wen Ning begs quietly as he pulls the rabbit’s little mouth off of his fingers. Except, as soon as his finger’s been freed, the bunny latches onto his robes and starts burrowing into the questionable warmth of a fierce corpse. “Please, stop!“

A rustling at his side temporarily pulls Wen Ning’s attention from the monster currently attempting to eat him, “Wen Ning?” A gentle hand removes the rabbit from his shaking arms. 

“A-Yuan?” Wen NIng’s voice cracks in relief. 

“Uncle? Why are you fighting with Xiao Ji?”

Wen Ning says nothing, but he does give his nephew a watery smile.

“Are you okay? Xiao Ji can get mean. Senior Wei spoils him too much.” Wen Ning privately thinks that Wei-Gongzi has horrible habits when it comes to animals. 

“I’m okay. I was just worried about the extra work it would take to replace my fingers if Xiao Ji succeeded.”

Sizhui laughs quietly, and they both settle into their places in the branches surrounding them. Wen Ning is almost back to his original position when another bunny sprints its way over to them. 

“And here comes Xiao Xian,” at those words, Wen Ning sees the grey ball of fluff in his nephew’s arms perk up. Sizhui pats the bunny and sets it down to meet its friend in the middle. 

“You know,” Sizhui starts, and Wen Ning listens carefully for his next words. “Senior Wei was right. Xiao Xian is an enabler.”

Wen Ning’s mildly lost, but he smiles and nods lightly at A-Yuan’s statement. They watch as the two bunnies tumble around, Xiao Ji grabbing Xiao Xian’s ear in his teeth before being kicked off the larger rabbit.

“It's cute. How close they are, I mean.” And Wen Ning isn’t sure who A-Yuan is referring to. The bunnies, or the immensely powerful cultivators leaning against each other with playing possibly the most mushy song ever made.

“Yes,” Wen Ning agrees because, either way, Sizhui’s right.

“Do you miss him?” Sizhui asks out of the blue, and if fierce corpses could blush, Wen Ning would be bright red. “It’s okay if you do. I know how much time you two used to spend together. It must be odd to have so much time to yourself now.”

Wen Ning can’t bring himself to reply, so he just stares at the bunnies in front of their bush with melancholy in his eyes. Sizhui already knows the answer anyway. 

“Would you like to accompany Jingyi and I on a night hunt?” Sizhui offers. 

And Wen Ning is soft, so of course he agrees. He isn’t needed here, so maybe he can do more somewhere else. Just for now, though.

fin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and wn's part is done... aghhhhhhhhhhhh i only have lwj's second half and the last part left.... i'm so close?????
> 
> (also, i was totally underestimating how much homework i had building up when i said i would finish by the end of oct.)
> 
> hope y'all enjoyed this chap. b/c it was hard for me to write lol 
> 
> all my love <33333333

**Author's Note:**

> i just want thank you all so much for keeping w/ my series, and i hope the next few parts end it satisfactorily...
> 
> <3333333


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